Admissions Information

School Overview

School Info

What is education like at one of the world's leading medical schools? It is extraordinarily empowering. You will begin your learning adventure by developing a solid general foundation in medicine through an engaging, continually innovative curriculum, a problem-based investigative approach to medical diagnoses and treatment, and small, highly interactive classroom sessions. In the process, you will explore the biological and social sciences relevant to medicine, understand pathophysiology and the various mechanisms of disease, and absorb the many dimensions of the patient-doctor relationship.

Curriculum

Beginning in August 2015, Harvard Medical School launched an innovative new curriculum – Pathways. This bold revision of the MD curriculum incorporates pedagogical approaches that foster active learning and critical thinking; earlier clinical experience; and advanced clinical and student-tailored basic/population science experiences that will provide customized pathways for every student.
The core basic/population science knowledge needed to succeed in clinical clerkships is taught prior to the core clinical year, while the richness of more advanced science that is best suited to students after they have had intensive clinical experience will follow completion of the core clinical clerkships. After the intellectual transformation that occurs during the core clinical year, students will be more receptive to courses in advanced scientific and clinical topics; required and/or selective courses in pathophysiology and pharmacology; selective courses in basic/translational science, social/population science, and medical humanities; individual, faculty-mentored scholarly projects; clinical electives and subinternships; and Steps 1 and 2 of the national boards.

Facilities

As you approach the quadrangle of neoclassical marble buildings that dominate Longwood Avenue, pause to read the words "Harvard Medical School" engraved below an imposing row of tall columns, and walk up a set of white marble steps into the School, you will admire the classic elegance of the campus while reflecting on its inspiring history of medical achievements. There is a powerful integration of the functional and the aesthetic of sophisticated classroom, laboratory, library, and research facilities, cutting-edge scientific technologies, and the warm character created by a rich tradition of intellectual debate and discussion. It is a campus that perfectly complements the education you receive here. HMS facilities include the Tosteson Medical Education Center (TMEC), which houses most of HMS's classrooms. The TMEC, fitted extensively for digital and audiovisual technologies, is also home to the five academic societies which are located around a 4,000-square-foot atrium. Other features include the Case Method Room, an interactive tiered classroom which seats 80 students, a Student Computing Center, and nine Clinical Examination Rooms and Clinical Skills Labs.

"Everything was fine for me.
However some people had interviews that were very close to lunch or during the tour and maybe that can be avoided in the future."
-Posted 01/10/2013 |
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"Provide a decent breakfast. I actually enjoyed having lots of free time, it gave me time to talk to current students and learn a lot from them"
-Posted 10/22/2011 |
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"If you had the chance to make your case to the admission committee, what would you say to them to convince them that they should accept you?"
-Posted 12/12/2011 |
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"It was very conversational. I guess we started by talking about my job and why I decided to go into that kind of work."
-Posted 10/19/2009 |
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"I studied a bunch of interview questions listed by others on the Student Doctor Network, and I was prepared for every question they asked me. Low stress; mostly interested in what I've done and why."
-Posted 03/02/2009 |
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"Specific questions about activities listed on AMCAS application, in the style of "tell me about your involvement in this organization/sport/lab.""
-Posted 02/01/2009 |
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"Tell me about yourself, tell me about your parents, tell me about X activity, what's your proudest accomplishment? why medicine? where do you see yourself in 10 years? What are some problems in healthcare? Why HMS? Anything else you want me to know? Any questions for me?"
-Posted 12/13/2008 |
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"Do you think that asking people to donate their tissue to a lab is coercive? (not in a stress interview kind of way: it makes sense based on my background)"
-Posted 10/12/2008 |
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"It's clear that the interviewers all went over my application very carefully. They asked very detailed questions regarding all that I had listed as activities, but it was by no means grilling."
-Posted 04/09/2007 |
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"what'd you do outside the classroom your freshman year? (we basically went through my college + post-college experiences chronologically). "
-Posted 02/21/2007 |
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"What is the point of doing research on insect parasites? How is that going to help people? (I didn't really have an answer for this...)"
-Posted 11/05/2006 |
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"I'm a non-traditional applicant, so I was asked questions specific to my life experiences (both interviewers had access to my AMCAS application)."
-Posted 11/04/2006 |
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"My second interviewer asked me a couple of generic ethical scenarios (to transplant or not to transplant); what did study in school and why; talk about your research; talk about your extracurricular activities"
-Posted 10/09/2006 |
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"What would you like me to tell the committee that (1) you didn't tell the other interviewer, and (2) you didn't mention in your application?"
-Posted 03/05/2006 |
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"Tell me about X on the AMCAS - including a few questions about really obscure courses that I took Freshman year - the importance of those (which was not really much)"
-Posted 01/01/2005 |
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"Tell me about your research. The first doctor asked only about my current research. The second doctor asked about both my current and my undergrad research projects."
-Posted 11/28/2004 |
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"Can you explain the trend in your undergraduate grades? - the interviewer was definitely looking for ways to defend me in front of a committee"
-Posted 11/20/2003 |
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"Both interviewers seemed to want to know a lot about my family and childhood, so the early questions were very much focused on that."
-Posted 11/15/2003 |
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"Nice tie. Did you buy it esp? (crimson colors) Then he suggested I get a couple of other ones when i go to UNC and Columbia....(all in good humor, he knew the school i was interviewing at for Dental SChool)"
-Posted 06/10/2003 |
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"Are you arrogant? (Same person who asked if I was anal) I'm not, but will someone really believe you if you say no to this question?"
-Posted 04/02/2003 |
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"Why Harvard? Followed by how does that make us different from other schools? I hated this question because I thought the same thing while I was preparing for the question."
-Posted 01/26/2003 |
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"They asked about my entire family, sibling by sibling, asking what everyone does, and where they went to school. They ask very good questions to get to know who you are."
-Posted 12/29/2002 |
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"In one interview (with a researcher), we talked very in depth about my research project and its applications. He asked me to discuss the pros/cons of using a particular approach over another. I have never been asked such engaging questions about my research, so I enjoyed it!"
-Posted 12/12/2011 |
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"My student interviewer and I started talking about how the style of baroque music mirrors the style of other art and architecture in that time period. "
-Posted 10/19/2009 |
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"What do your parents do for a living, your sisters, your husband? (I just thought it was odd to start off my interview about me this way...)"
-Posted 11/07/2008 |
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"There was nothing too out-of-the-ordinary, or difficult... both of my interviews began with them asking me to just talk about myself, and the rest of the conversation was completely tailored to my application, with them asking me about different experiences on my AMCAS"
-Posted 11/06/2008 |
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"From the recent experiences you've had shadowing doctors, what problems have you observed in our health care system and what do you think we can do about them?"
-Posted 10/21/2008 |
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"Do you think that HIV education in Africa really makes a difference without tackling the underlying cultural difference? Without sustained presence, does a short term program do any good?"
-Posted 03/17/2008 |
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"Very laid back. One interviewer wanted to talk about AMCAS activities and the other wanted to talk about me as a person. Awesome people who really wanted to make me feel at home. "
-Posted 12/07/2006 |
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"The really was no interesting question. I think the interview was more about getting to know me more (talking about my activities...my experiences....what sets me apart from the other applicants)"
-Posted 11/09/2006 |
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"Why did you get involved in community service so early as a freshman? Was that what people at your school do for a social life?"
-Posted 11/05/2006 |
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"A patient comes in and complains of trouble breathing. You tell the patient that there is a problem with her heart and you would like to admit her to the hospital. Name some characteristics that she, as a patient, would be looking for in you, her doctor."
-Posted 12/23/2005 |
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"What do you think could have been done better? (I was talking about watching a patient's mother being told about her daughter's paralysis)."
-Posted 11/20/2005 |
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"what do you feel are problems in the field that you are going into (psychiatry)? this led to an ethical discussion of various situations i have encountered"
-Posted 11/16/2004 |
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"The interviews are meant to be open file, but my faculty interviewer received my application right before the interview so it was semi-closed. My student interviewer had definitely reviewed my file before hand and had very specific and interesting personal questions, but they were all related to things I had written about or experiences I had."
-Posted 03/24/2004 |
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"This interview was for HST. Most interesting question was what would I do if I suspected a colleague and good friend of stealing painkillers from the hospital?"
-Posted 03/11/2004 |
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"One interviewer showed me the rating sheet and asked me what score I thought I should get on each topic. The other asked me a very detailed question about my research that I would not have expected him to get from a 5 min blurb... watch out because they are sharp."
-Posted 02/20/2004 |
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"How do you think your past experiences have prepared you for being a good physician? (i've been out of school for a number of years)"
-Posted 11/20/2003 |
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"Nothing in particular - some interesting ones as my application got probed in depth, but they were specific to my file."
-Posted 11/15/2003 |
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"During World War II, President Roosevelt came to MGH for a checkup. His physician, Dr. Lahey, found that he had extremely high blood pressure and had had several mini-strokes which may have impaired his judgement. Roosevelt told Lahey to keep the matter confidential. If you were Dr. Lahey, what would you do, given that Roosevelt was about to go to Yalta to divide up Europe with Stalin and Churchill?"
-Posted 11/14/2003 |
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"Since I had traveled around a lot, I got a lot of questions during my interview about my impressions of different places compared to others."
-Posted 07/06/2003 |
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"The interview was by far my most positive of the four schools I've interviewed with thus far. The students are all very nice, very down to earth, and extremely helpful. Harvard treast their students very well, providing excellent housing, and a program that is second to none. My interview was with the dean of Admissions, and was very positive. We talked for over an hour, mostly about books, life, etc. I think we both got to know eachother very well, and ir was an extremely pleasurable experience. "
-Posted 12/29/2002 |
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""Tell me about the ethical cases you have been asked at other interviews and lets see how I do on them." - My interviewer wanted to be quizzed"
-Posted 12/21/2002 |
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"Pretty standard. My first interviewer was in the medical education department, with a Ph.D in education. She was very friendly and had thoroughly reviewed my file, so she asked me a few education-type questions (I did lots of tutoring and mentoring) and other questions pertinent to my file. The second interviewer hadn't read my file, so he asked things to get to know me."
-Posted 11/06/2002 |
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"Lots of great ones by my student interviewer: Hypothetical questions about health care access, education...but don't worry these all pertained to my application. Just a really good conversation."
-Posted 05/28/2002 |
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// Forums //

About the LizzyM Score

LizzyM, SDN Moderator and medical school admissions committee member, is the inventor of the LizzyM Score. The score allows you to see if you are a competitive applicant at a given school. If your LizzyM Score is far below or above the average, you may not be a good fit. If your score is far below, your application may be screened out due to numerical cutoffs. If it is far above, the school may assume they are your “safety” school and that you won’t attend if they offer an acceptance.
This score should be used only as a guide to help you select schools and is not a guarantee of acceptance at any school. If you use this as your sole criteria to select medical schools to apply to, you don’t deserve to get in anyway.